Facing
Fear Curriculum Helps Children Cope with War, Terrorism
Written by Mason Booth, Staff Writer, RedCross.org
March
27, 2003 — In a world of round-the-clock
media coverage and live footage from scenes of crisis
and conflict, protecting children and young adults
from exposure to war and terrorism is often difficult,
if not impossible. Parents today must field complicated
questions, such as “What does war mean?”,
“Am I safe?” and “What if something
happens to you?”
To
help, the American Red Cross developed Facing
Fear: Helping Young People Deal With Terrorism
and Tragic Events, a school curriculum designed to
help alleviate worries and clear up confusion about
perceived and actual threats to safety.
The
classroom is the perfect setting to address these
issues because many times parents are unsure themselves
about the situation and how to explain it. They don’t
want to ignore the questions, but at the same time
they don’t want to cause further distress,”
said Linda Muller, a teacher at Palomar High School
in San Diego.
Muller
heads her school’s widely recognized Gang Risk
Intervention Program (GRIP), a leadership course designed
to connect kids through constructive community-based
activities.
She
has used Facing Fear to assist her ninth
through twelfth grade students enrolled in GRIP in
dealing with their anxiety since the terrorist attacks
of Sept. 11, 2001.
”I’ve
been a teacher for more than 20 years, but the national
impact of that day’s events and the questions
surrounding them were something none of us had faced
before,” said Muller.
In
fact, Muller’s predicament was one that parents
and teachers across the nation were confronted with.
Many of them turned to the Red Cross for help.
“We
had the Masters of Disaster™ curriculum
in place in schools that help children cope with the
aftermath of natural disasters. However, we realized
there was a gap to meet the large-scale needs associated
with human-caused events such as terrorism,”
said Heidi Taylor, curriculum associate with the American
Red Cross.
New
Disaster Prompts New Curriculum
Within
one week of the terrorist attacks, disaster experts
and mental health counselors from the Red Cross teamed
up with child psychologists and educators across the
country to develop a new curriculum, using Masters
of Disaster™ as a model. The group incorporated
elements specific to terrorism and war, keeping in
mind the advice of counselors who stressed the need
to confront fears and also warned that ignoring difficult
issues can often aggravate a child’s coping
problems.
”Their
collaborative efforts resulted in Facing Fear,
which meets national education standards in health,
social studies and language arts, and consists of
age-appropriate, ready-to-go lesson plans for K-12
grade levels. The lesson plans contain preparedness
information addressing tragic events, natural disasters
and other human-caused tragedies, including war and
terrorism” said Taylor.
On Saturday, GRIP students will hold a community event at Palomar High School using Facing Fear to help those in their area who have relatives in the U.S. military cope with the pains of separation.
|
Each
lesson plan begins with a “Background for the
Teachers” section, which outlines some fears
and concerns teachers may hear from their students,
methods to help address emotionally challenging questions
and ways educators can lead discussions about tragic
events.
Included
in the curriculum are chapters about “Feelings,”
“Facts and Perspectives” and the “Future.“
The
Feelings section includes lessons about managing stress,
anxiety and other reactions to tragic events. The
Facts and Perspectives chapter concentrates on communicating
information and distinguishing between fact and opinion
in the media. It also provides general facts about
war and terrorism, including rules of war, International
Humanitarian law and the Fundamental Principles of
the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement,
adapted for each age level.
The
Future section helps alleviate concerns about future
attacks by encouraging students to be prepared for
the unexpected. It incorporates disaster preparedness
information that teachers, students and families can
use to ready themselves in the event of a disaster,
whether natural or human-caused.
The
curriculum was easily incorporated into our classes
because we could pull the lesson plans that were most
relevant at the time,” said Muller. “That
gave us a means for talking about very sensitive issues,
but in a structured way that answered their questions.
At the same time, it helped our students realize that
their opinions are important and do matter.”
From
Tornadoes to War
In
November, 2001, Facing Fear was introduced
into New York City public schools as a response to
the terrorist attacks. Since that time, the curriculum
has become a part of education systems across the
country in response to a wide range of tragic events.
Schools in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding areas
utilized Facing Fear to help students cope
with the October 2002 sniper attacks, while other
schools have used the curriculum to assist in the
aftermath of destructive natural disasters, such as
tornadoes.
“We
made sure that Facing Fear would be flexible
and varied enough to encompass each type of tragic
event, whether it’s human-caused or natural,”
said Taylor. ”It can be used any time, any place,
for a local, or national disaster.”
Recently,
Muller’s students once again put Facing
Fear to use. This time, however, it is being
used in response to the conflict in Iraq and is being
applied to the entire community rather than just the
student body.
”There
are many families here who have loved ones in the
military, so this is a hard time for them,”
said Muller. “It has also been difficult for
our students here. We have an internship program at
Palomar where our students work with the Navy and
have formed close friendships with the men and women
in the nearby bases.”
On
Saturday (March 29), Muller’s students will
host “Palomar Salutes Our Families, Our Community
and Our Troops”, a local event designed to ease
the minds of people concerned about their local servicemen
and women in the Persian Gulf region.
”We’re
going to use some of the lessons recommended in Facing
Fear to help our community, where many families
have been separated,” said Muller. “Facing
Fear is a great service to our schools, and has
become a springboard here at Palomar to help unite
our community.”
Related
Links:
|
